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Six on Saturday – Conform to Type

For this Six on Saturday I have resolved to conform to type. I will be featuring stereotypically seasonal issues only. Possibly. We shall see how that goes. “What is this Six on Saturday?” I hear you ask. “Have you just returned from trekking in the Amazon rainforest where you set up home with an indigenous tribe and lived isolated from western society for the past five years until you ran out of teabags and had to pop home to get some more?” I enquire. No matter, I will explain. It is quite simple: six, on Saturday. For more details check out our very own tribal chief, The Propamaster, and he will get you up to speed on the fine print.

First we have a primula, primrose, first rose. You might have noticed that it is blue, which is not totally traditional, but let us not get bogged down with the minutae. I have a penchant for blue flowers so I was very happy to find this little lovely in the front garden. I pointed it out to OH earlier and we agreed that neither of us had planted it there. Or perhaps more accurately, “remembered” that we had planted it.

Next the quintessential spring flower, all hail the daff! No one can complain about any poetic licence with this choice, a classic yellow narcissus. I was in Welsh Wales last weekend and was rather surprised to see they had seemingly shot up and budded in my absence. Perhaps I was away longer than I imagined.

Now a crocus, bang on! I imagine this little beauty was shifted out-of-place whilst I was rooting around removing summer bedding and planting out the violas. A small joy, hugging the edge of the butler’s sink.

Come on folks, I am surpassing myself here, now we have a hellebore! This possibly has a name but I can’t be bothered to go out and look at the label. Let us call it Purple Blotch.

Not so welcome, but definitely a feature of the season, are the emerging slugs and snails. This blatant destroyer was feasting on a pot of purple alstromeria that I am planning to pass on to Max. Again, it definitely has a name. Please see above for excuses.

And here is the exception to prove my rule. This Salvia corrugata has been flowering since time begun, and possibly a little before. Unprotected, except by my love, it has weathered storms and a few degrees of frost. Not classic winter/spring fare, but definitely worth a mention.

Now just a moment, we wouldn’t want a repeat of last week’s rather embarrassing faux pas …………… yep, we are definitely up to six, I checked twice. That is it, another SoS completed. Until the next time. I will keep practicing my counting.

I found it amusing. Our slugs are active all year, and the famously big banana slug is more active during the rainy winter weather. Tourists love them, and they do not eat viable plant material. We needed to set up a game camera to see who was regularly cutting through one of the fences, and banana slugs set off the motion detector and got recorded a few times. It was funny.

I can grow Iris reticulata. Last year I planted ‘Digit’ and it will be interesting to see if it has multiplied or completely disappeared. I also have a couple of no ID ones. Irises do quite well here, and I plan to plant more…just waiting for bulbs, corms etc to arrive in the nurseries.

I gave a talk on Alstroemeria today (you missed an e – shame!). Nematodes are wonderful of course but trouble is that the soil isn’t warm enough for them yet. A sprinkling of organic slug pellets is called for. Yes, there are organic slug pellets. Monty and his Soil Association may cringe but there are other organic certifiers. Turquoise is the colour. Avoid blue. Just remember that one pellet per square foot is enough. Two is too many. Too many will send the sluggies off elsewhere in search of your Alstroemeria shoots. Auntie may know a lot but listen to uncle occasionally. Bye Mum! 😉

Great post! I like the color of that primula as I like lavender colored flowers! I never liked yellow flowers in my garden but I have them now and rather like them! Was it you, who told us the “color” in the garden this year is yellow? I look forward to more of your posts!

How nice that these are still going for you. Our daffodils are mostly done. Sadly, the were in full bloom before a long series of storms that prevented anyone from being outside to appreciate them. By the time the rain stopped, they were face down in the mud. Crocus was just battered. They do not do well here anyway. Neither do the hellebores. I do not understand the allure of hellebores. People really like them, but I never see them doing well here like they do in other regions. Those primroses are cool season annuals for us, so will be getting replaced with warm season annuals soon. The only thing from your group that will continue for us is the salvias. I do not know Salvia corrugata, but we have a few natives that bloom quickly just after the rain stops. Some bloom throughout the year.

Ours ‘could’ be perennials, but there is more money to be made from replacing them as much as possible. That is why I dislike cyclamen so. I grew them as perennials when I was a kid. It annoys me to see them grown as annuls, and chucked at the end of their season.

Yes, but it could be worse. We had a client who ordered at least one truck load of field grown and boxed rhododendrons for a home that he maintained the landscape for in Woodside. I Thought it was odd that he ordered about the same amount annually for the same landscape. When I was informed that they were being used an annuals, we stopped selling to him. Seriously, rhododendrons that cost several hundred dollars each were planted in time to bloom, and then discarded after bloom. I do not know how much they cost to install. What was worse is that the home was almost always uninhabited. The family who owned it was there for part of the summer, and maybe a few times through the year, but did not likely see the rhododendrons in bloom. The ‘landscaper’ just enjoyed spending their money and charging them more money to do so.